Parātrīṃśikā Vivaraṇa (Part 137): One Freedom, Three Śaktis

image of a trident entwined by a serpent, evoking the triśūla-form where icchā, jñāna, and kriyā gather into one current of Bhairava’s freedom.

The previous part unfolded the mixed vowels and stopped at the point where icchā and īśana do not require any further self-reversal. Abhinava had shown how the vowel-body moves through entry, contraction, subtlety, Ānanda, Anuttara, and the mixed forms e, o, ai, au. The whole current was becoming increasingly dense: powers entering one another, sound becoming a body of Śakti’s internal motion.

Now the movement turns toward completion.

Icchā and jñāna, having entered Anuttara and gained strength there, later abandon the vibration of the limiting adjunct. This is a crucial shift. The powers first need form, entry, mixture, and upādhi in order to become articulable. But once the current has been strengthened by Anuttara, the limiting vibration is released. The form has served its purpose; now it must become transparent.

This leads into bindu. What remains is not a full articulated form, but a minimal point of awareness — the bare remnant of Puruṣa-tattva-awareness rising into non-difference and absorbed in Anuttara as aṃ. Bindu is the point where the many are gathered back into the pure light. It is not absence; it is compressed awareness, the point-form of return.

Then Abhinava says that Kriyā-Śakti’s vibration is completed in au. This is the culmination of the vowel-current. Icchā and jñāna are included there, so au takes the form of triśūla, the trident. The trident is not merely an iconographic weapon. It is the structure of Śakti as threefold power: will, knowledge, and action gathered into one current.

The passage then moves from aṃ to aḥ, from bindu to visarga. Bindu is the pure light-point; visarga is the Śākta emission. First, Parameśvara is described with the predominance of the Śaktimat-form, the one possessing Śakti. Then, with the predominance of Śākta visarga, He is aḥ — the outpouring of the same fullness. The universe is released into unity with itself and emitted from the Self, not as alien creation, but as the Self’s own construction.

The later gloss gathers the whole movement through the triad of icchā, jñāna, and kriyā. These are called three Śaktis only to make Parameśvara’s freedom clear. Icchā expands the universe; jñāna makes it manifest; kriyā makes it flash outwardly. Yet in truth there is only one svātantrya, one freedom, appearing as beginning, middle, and end.

So this chunk completes a major arc: from the strengthened powers abandoning limiting vibration, to bindu, to visarga, to the triśūla of icchā-jñāna-kriyā, and finally to the recognition that the three Śaktis are not ultimately separate powers. They are one freedom showing itself in three phases so that the sādhaka can recognize the movement clearly.

Icchā and jñāna, increased by entry into Anuttara, later abandon the vibration of the limiting adjunct

evamicchājñāne anuttarasvarūpānupaveśena prāptopacaye paścāt parityajya tathāvidhopādhiparispandasattām

“In this way, icchā and jñāna, having gained increase through entry into the nature of Anuttara, later abandon the existence of the vibration belonging to that kind of limiting adjunct.”

Abhinava now describes a turning-back of the current. Icchā and jñāna have expanded through entry into Anuttara. The powers have not remained small, isolated, or merely functional; they have been strengthened by entering the unsurpassed ground. But after that increase, they parityajya — abandon, leave behind — the vibration of the upādhi, the limiting adjunct.

This is subtle. The powers first need the upādhi, the conditioned form, because without some mode of limitation there is no specific manifestation. A vowel becomes a certain vowel; a power becomes icchā, jñāna, kriyā; a form becomes knowable. The upādhi gives shape. It allows manifestation to appear as this and not that.

But once icchā and jñāna have entered Anuttara and been expanded by that entry, they no longer remain bound to the vibration of that limiting condition. The form has served its function. The power has passed through it and is now drawn back toward the non-different ground.

So the movement is not rejection of manifestation from the beginning. Abhinava never does that. First, Śakti accepts form, sound, entry, mixture, vibration, upādhi. Then, when the current has been fulfilled, the limiting vibration is abandoned. This is the same logic we saw with purification: use the means, then do not cling to the means. Here: enter the conditioned form, let it reveal the power, then let the condition fall away.

Mystically, this is exact. A mantra-form, a deity-form, a bliss-state, a vision, a doctrine, a ritual identity, a sacred place, a teacher’s phrase, even a subtle sound may first be necessary. It gives shape to the current. It allows consciousness to gather itself into a form that can be entered, loved, repeated, contemplated, and digested. Without such an upādhi, the sādhaka may remain too vague, too dispersed, unable to hold the current steadily.

But the same upādhi that first gathers the current can later become a boundary. The mantra that opened the door can become “my mantra.” The deity that revealed the current can become “my deity-form” as possession. The bliss that descended once can become a remembered peak one tries to reproduce. The doctrine that clarified reality can become a mental fortress. The teacher’s phrase can become a substitute for seeing. The sacred form first served as a vessel; later, if clung to, it becomes a shell.

So Abhinava’s movement is severe but merciful: enter the form fully, let it do its work, let it increase the power by contact with Anuttara — and then release the upādhi-parispanda, the vibration of that limiting condition. Not because the form was false. Because it was successful. A real means is not meant to imprison the one it has carried.

The sādhaka must learn this rhythm: receive the form, enter it, be transformed by it, then let it become transparent. Do not break the vessel before it has held the nectar. But do not worship the vessel after the nectar has entered the heart. Icchā and jñāna gain power through their entry into Anuttara; then the limiting vibration falls away. The power returns to its source, not as loss, but as completion.

Bindu remains as the bare awareness of Puruṣa-tattva absorbed in Anuttara

abhedasattārohaṇacinmayapuruṣatattvasatattvavedanārūpabindumātrāvaśeṣeṇa vapuṣā tathānuttarapadalīne amiti

“With a body in which only bindu remains — in the form of the awareness of the true Puruṣa-tattva, consciousness-made, rising into the state of non-difference — and thus absorbed into the Anuttara-state, it is aṃ.”

Abhinava now describes what remains after icchā and jñāna, strengthened by entry into Anuttara, abandon the vibration of the limiting adjunct. What remains is not the full spread of articulated power. It is bindu-mātra-avaśeṣa — only bindu remains.

This is not “nothing.” Bindu is the point-form of awareness, the concentrated remainder after the limiting vibration has been released. The powers have entered Anuttara, the upādhi has fallen away, and what remains is a minimal luminous point — not gross manifestation, not expanded sequence, but the seed-point of consciousness gathered into itself.

The phrase cinmaya-puruṣa-tattva-satattva-vedana-rūpa matters. This bindu is the awareness of the true Puruṣa-tattva as consciousness-made. Puruṣa here is not merely the limited experiencer in the ordinary bound sense. It is being drawn upward into abheda-sattā, the state of non-difference. The individual principle is not denied; it is reduced to its consciousness-essence and absorbed back into Anuttara.

So aṃ is not just a with a dot as a phonetic mark. It is a gathered into bindu. The open Anuttara-ground receives the point of return. What was moving outward through icchā and jñāna now contracts into a luminous seed-point, a bindu-form where the differentiated current is no longer spread but not lost either.

Mystically, this is the point where the individual principle becomes almost transparent. The vibration of the limiting form has been abandoned, but awareness remains as a point of return. It is like the whole movement of manifestation reduced to a single shining seed, ready either to dissolve into Anuttara or to become the source of further emission.

So aṃ marks absorption, concentration, and return: the power no longer scattered through upādhi, but gathered as bindu in the heart of Anuttara.

Kriyā-Śakti’s vibration is completed in au

tathāhi aukāre eva kriyāśaktiparispandaḥ parisamāpyate

“For indeed, in the vowel au itself, the vibration of Kriyā-Śakti comes to completion.”

Abhinava now names the completion-point of Kriyā-Śakti’s movement. The current that began with icchā and jñāna, passed through entry into Anuttara, abandoned the limiting vibration, and contracted into bindu as aṃ, now reaches another decisive culmination: in au, the vibration of Kriyā-Śakti is completed.

This is not only a grammatical statement. Au is the vowel in which the earlier powers have become fully gathered and expanded. It contains the movement from a, ā, u, ū, and the mixed development of the vowel-body. So when Abhinava says Kriyā-Śakti’s parispanda is completed there, he means that action-power has finished its arc of vibration in this sound-form.

The word parispanda matters. It is not inert action, not mechanical doing. It is the living throb of Śakti. Kriyā does not simply “perform” from outside. It vibrates, expands, gathers, and completes itself. In au, that vibration reaches its full resonance.

So au becomes the sound-form where action has ripened. Icchā has willed, jñāna has illumined, kriyā has moved, and now the movement is complete enough to become a total Śākta articulation. The vowel is no longer just sound; it is the seal of action-power fulfilled.

Because icchā and jñāna are included in au, it has the form of triśūla

iti - icchājñānayoratraivāntarbhāvāt triśūlarūpatvamasya ṣaḍardhaśāstre nirūpitam

“Therefore, because icchā and jñāna are included right here, its triśūla-form has been taught in the Ṣaḍardhaśāstra.”

Abhinava now explains why au is not merely the completion of Kriyā-Śakti’s vibration. It is triśūla-rūpa, trident-formed, because icchā and jñāna are included within it. Kriyā does not stand alone. Action is the completion of will and knowledge gathered into operative force.

This is the living meaning of the trident. Its three prongs are not just a symbol placed in Śiva’s hand. They are the three powers: icchā, jñāna, and kriyā. Will, knowledge, and action are not separate compartments. Will without knowledge would be blind impulse. Knowledge without action would remain unexpressed. Action without will and knowledge would be mechanical movement. In au, they are gathered into one complete Śākta current.

So au is the sound-form of completion. The vibration of Kriyā reaches its fullness there because it contains the previous powers inside itself. Icchā has not been left behind. Jñāna has not been replaced. They are included, interiorized, completed in action. The trident is therefore not three different powers stuck together, but one freedom showing itself as threefold force.

This also connects back to the whole movement of the vowels. A opened as Anuttara. Ā expanded as Ānanda. I / ī unfolded icchā and īśana. U / ū unfolded jñāna. Au gathers the current into kriyā’s completed vibration. The trident is the sound-body of that gathering.

So Abhinava’s point is precise: action becomes complete only when it contains will and knowledge. Kriyā-Śakti is not mere doing. She is the full triadic power of Bhairava made operative.

Ṣaḍardhaśāstra support: the triad and the fourth are pervaded by the trident

sārṇena tritayaṃ vyāptaṃ triśūlena caturthakam |

“The triad is pervaded by the sārṇa, and the fourth by the triśūla.”

The text now gives the fuller scriptural support for the triśūla structure. There is a tritaya, a triad, and then a caturthaka, a fourth. The triad is pervaded by sārṇa, and the fourth is pervaded by the triśūla.

For the present movement, the important point is that au is not merely the endpoint of Kriyā-Śakti as isolated action. It gathers the prior powers into a trident-structure. Icchā and jñāna are included there, and kriyā completes the movement. So au becomes triśūla-like because it holds the three Śaktis together as one operative force.

The triśūla is therefore not just an iconographic weapon. It is the structure of Śakti’s completed vibration: will, knowledge, and action inseparable. The prongs are distinguishable, but they are one weapon, one current, one power. That is exactly how icchā, jñāna, and kriyā function here. They can be named separately for clarity, but they are not ultimately separate powers.

The vowel-body is being read as a Śākta weapon-body. The sequence of sounds culminates not in a flat phonetic endpoint, but in the trident of Bhairava’s freedom: the power to will, illumine, and enact gathered into one sharp form.

Bindu is the pure light remaining when the three abodes are established

ityādyuddeśeṣu binduḥ [atrārtho'yam
atra prakāśamātraṃ yat sthite dhāmatraye sati |
uktaṃ bindutayā śāstre śivabindurasau mataḥ ||

“In teachings such as this, there is bindu. The meaning here is this:

‘When the three abodes are established, that which remains as pure light alone is taught in the śāstra as bindu; that is known as Śiva-bindu.’”

The gloss now clarifies what bindu means in this movement. After the vibration of Kriyā-Śakti reaches completion in au, and after icchā, jñāna, and kriyā are gathered into the triśūla-structure, what remains is prakāśa-mātra — pure light alone.

This is important. Bindu is not merely a dot placed above a letter. It is not just a phonetic nasal marker. It is the point where the three abodes, the three powers, the triadic field, have been established and gathered. When the triad has done its work, when the movement has been condensed, what remains is the luminous point: Śiva-bindu.

The phrase prakāśa-mātra must be held carefully. It does not mean inert light without Vimarśa, because Abhinava has already destroyed that reading. It means the contracted, point-like residue of the whole movement as pure luminosity. The powers are not absent; they are gathered into the point. Bindu is fullness compressed into a single luminous seed.

So the movement is beautiful: au completes the vibration of Kriyā-Śakti as triśūla; then aṃ appears as bindu, the point where the triadic movement is drawn back into concentrated light. The trident has flashed; now its force is gathered into the point.

When the universe returns into unity with itself, Śāmbhava-tattva predominates

iti nyāyāt svabhāvāviśiṣṭamapi yadā viśvaṃ svasmāt svasminnevaikyagamanāya visṛjati tadā śaktimadrūpaprādhānyaṃ pūrṇatāveśalakṣaṇaṃ śāṃbhavaṃ tattvamityuktam |

“According to this principle, when the universe, though not different from its own nature, is released from itself into unity within itself, then there is the predominance of the Śaktimat-form, marked by immersion in fullness; this is called the Śāmbhava-tattva.”

Abhinava now explains what happens when the whole universe is gathered back into unity. The universe is svabhāva-aviśiṣṭa — not truly different from its own nature, not separate from consciousness. Yet, through the movement of manifestation, it appears as a spread of forms. When that spread is released back from itself into itself — svasmāt svasmin eva aikya-gamanāya visṛjati — the universe returns into its own non-different ground.

This is not annihilation. The world is not destroyed as if it were a second thing that must be erased. It is released into unity with its own real nature. What was spread as many is gathered into the fullness from which it never truly departed.

At that point, śaktimat-rūpa-prādhānya predominates — the form of the possessor of Śakti. This means the emphasis is not on Śakti as outward emission yet, but on Bhairava as the one in whom Śakti is inwardly possessed, gathered, held. The power is not absent; it is concentrated in the possessor. The universe returns into the Śaktimat.

This is why the state is marked by pūrṇatā-āveśa — immersion in fullness. The return into unity is not a collapse into blankness. It is fullness becoming dominant. The many are not denied; they are held in their source. Difference is not treated as evil; it is absorbed into the non-different body of consciousness.

Therefore this is called Śāmbhava-tattva. It is the state where the universe is known from the side of Śambhu, from the side of the Lord as possessor of Śakti, where manifestation has returned into fullness without losing its truth. The outward play has been gathered into the one who was always its ground.

The universe is released into unity and emitted from the Self as aḥ

punarvedanāmātraśeṣataiva sarvasya vedanāmātrāviśeṣamapi viśvaṃ yadā svātmanyekagamanāya visṛjati svātmanaśca sakāśāt tannirmāṇena visṛjati sa eva parameśvaraḥ prathamaṃ śaktimadrūpapradhānatayā idānīṃ tu śāktavisargapradhānatayā aḥ iti

“Again, only bare awareness remains. When the universe, though not different from bare awareness, is emitted so as to enter unity within the Self, and is also emitted from the Self through its own construction, that very Parameśvara — first with the predominance of the Śaktimat-form, but now with the predominance of Śākta visarga — is aḥ.”

Abhinava now moves from bindu to visarga, from the gathered point to the outpouring. In aṃ, the movement had contracted into bindu: the whole current drawn back into a luminous point, bare awareness remaining after the limiting vibration has fallen away. Now, in aḥ, that gathered fullness opens. The point releases. The held power breathes outward.

The first phrase is crucial: punar vedanā-mātra-śeṣatā eva — again, only bare awareness remains. Even here, at the moment of emission, we are not leaving consciousness. Visarga is not a fall from awareness into something else. It is not the production of a second world outside the Self. What remains, what emits, what receives, and what is emitted are still vedanā-mātra, awareness alone.

Then Abhinava says the universe is vedanā-mātra-aviśeṣa — not different from bare awareness. This prevents the crude reading of creation as manufacture. The universe is not built from some material outside consciousness. It is not an external product. It is awareness appearing as universe while never becoming other than awareness.

And yet there is emission. Abhinava does not erase the movement. The universe is visṛjati — released, emitted, let forth. But it is emitted svātmani eka-gamanāya — so that it may go into unity within the Self. This is beautiful and paradoxical. Creation is already oriented toward return. The universe is released not into exile, but into the very unity from which it shines. The outward movement already contains homecoming.

Then he adds the second side: it is emitted svātmanaḥ sakāśāt tan-nirmāṇena — from the Self, through its own construction. So the universe is both released into the Self and released from the Self. It goes out from the Self and returns into the Self in the same act. This is not linear creation followed later by reabsorption. It is the pulse of visarga itself: outpouring that never loses unity.

This is why the same Parameśvara is first described through śaktimat-rūpa-pradhānatā and now through śākta-visarga-pradhānatā. In bindu, the emphasis is on the Śaktimat, the possessor of Śakti: power gathered into the Lord, fullness held as point. In visarga, the emphasis shifts to Śākta emission: the power flowing forth, releasing, manifesting, breathing the universe out as its own expression.

So aḥ is not a grammatical afterthought. It is the sound-form of divine emission. Aṃ gathers; aḥ releases. Bindu is the seed-point; visarga is the exhalation. Bindu is power held; visarga is power given forth. But both are awareness. Both are Parameśvara. Both are non-different from Anuttara.

Mystically, this is one of the deepest movements: the universe is not outside the Self, and yet it is not denied. It is emitted. It appears. It is constructed. It shines as multiplicity. But its very emission is already a movement of unity. The world is not a mistake that must later be repaired. It is the Self’s own release into itself.

This is the Śākta secret of aḥ: manifestation as the breath of awareness. Not exile, not fall, not second reality — but the Self pouring itself out while remaining itself, and drawing everything back into unity by the very act of expression.

At the limit of au, Kriyā-Śakti becomes full and receives the Anuttara-Bhairava essence

aukāraparyante hi nirbharībhūte kriyāśaktiprasare etāvadanupaviṣṭamanuttarapadasya bhairavabhaṭṭāakasya svarūpasatattvasya icchā

“For at the limit of au, when the expansion of Kriyā-Śakti has become completely filled, the essential true nature of Bhairava Bhaṭṭāraka, the Anuttara-state, enters this far as icchā.”

Abhinava now brings the vowel-current to the edge of completion. The movement has passed through will, knowledge, mixed vowels, bindu, and visarga; now, at the limit of au, Kriyā-Śakti-prasara — the expansion of action-power — becomes nirbharībhūta, completely filled, saturated, brought to fullness.

This is important. Kriyā is not mere external doing. It is not just motion, process, or sequence. At its limit, action-power becomes full enough to receive the svarūpa-satattva of Anuttara Bhairava — the essential truth of the unsurpassed Lord. Action, when followed to its depth, does not lead away from the supreme. It becomes filled by the supreme.

The line says that this Anuttara-Bhairava essence enters “this far” as icchā. That means the will-power is not abandoned at the completion of action. It is included there, entering the fully expanded field of kriyā. Action is complete only because will and knowledge are secretly inside it. Kriyā without icchā would be mechanical. Kriyā without jñāna would be blind. But here, at au, action is full because the earlier powers have entered it.

So au becomes a point of saturation. The Śakti-current no longer appears as isolated will, isolated knowledge, or isolated action. The action-power has expanded enough to contain the whole triadic force of Bhairava. The sound is no longer only a vowel; it is the completion of a process where Anuttara enters the field of manifestation without ceasing to be Anuttara.

This is the beginning of the triśūla logic. The trident will not be an external symbol added afterward. It arises because au contains the three powers in one completed vibration: icchā, jñāna, kriyā. The current has reached the point where Bhairava’s freedom is sharp enough to act, luminous enough to know, and full enough to will.

The triad of icchā, jñāna, and kriyā reveals one freedom, not three separate powers

icchājñānakriyāśaktināmakaṃ tritayaṃ khalu |
parameśvarasvātantryakhyāpakaṃ kathitaṃ pare ||

icchāśaktāviṣyāaṇaṃ viśvaṃ jātaṃ yadaiva hi |
jñānaśaktirabhivyaktikāraṇaṃ tasya brūmahe ||

kriyāśaktirbāhyarūpaparisphuraṇakāraṇam |
ekameva hi svātantryamādimadhyāntabhedabhāk ||

“The triad called Icchā-Śakti, Jñāna-Śakti, and Kriyā-Śakti is taught by the supreme teachers as revealing Parameśvara’s freedom.

When the universe comes forth through the expansion of Icchā-Śakti,
we say that Jñāna-Śakti is the cause of its manifestation.

Kriyā-Śakti is the cause of its external flashing forth.
For it is one freedom alone that assumes the distinction of beginning, middle, and end.”

The gloss now gathers the whole vowel-unfolding into the triad of icchā, jñāna, and kriyā. But the point is not to create three independent powers. The triad exists to reveal Parameśvara’s svātantrya, His sovereign freedom. The three Śaktis are three faces of one freedom.

Icchā is the beginning: the universe first stirs as will, as the free impulse toward manifestation. This is not desire born from lack. It is fullness beginning to expand.

Jñāna is the middle: what is willed becomes manifest to consciousness. The universe does not simply burst out blindly. It becomes knowable, illumined, shaped in awareness.

Kriyā is the outward flashing: the known and willed universe becomes operative, externally radiant, enacted as manifest form.

So the triad is not arbitrary. It is the inner rhythm of manifestation: will, illumination, expression. Beginning, middle, end. Seed, clarity, act. But the gloss immediately prevents misunderstanding: ekam eva hi svātantryam — it is one freedom alone. The distinction into beginning, middle, and end belongs to the way freedom appears, not to a real division inside Parameśvara.

This is the crucial point. There are not three separate engines in the supreme. Icchā is not one substance, jñāna another, kriyā a third. They are one freedom seen according to its phases of manifestation. When freedom inclines, we call it icchā. When it illumines, we call it jñāna. When it externalizes and enacts, we call it kriyā. But the power is one.

This protects the whole vowel doctrine from becoming mechanical. The sounds, powers, and stages are real as modes of recognition, but they are not fragments of the supreme. The triśūla has three prongs, but one shaft. The Śaktis are three in function, one in freedom.

The three Śaktis are named separately only for clear recognition

tena naiṣāṃ pṛthaṅnāma kadācidapi labhyate |

tatra sphuṭapratītyarthaṃ yathā mūla eva ullilasiṣetyādi |]

“Therefore, separate names for these Śaktis are never truly obtained. They are distinguished only for the sake of clear recognition, as already indicated in the root text by expressions such as ‘wishing to unfold,’ and so on.”

The gloss now gives the final safeguard. Icchā, jñāna, and kriyā are spoken of separately. We say: will, knowledge, action. We say: beginning, middle, end. We say: creation begins in icchā, becomes manifest through jñāna, and flashes outward through kriyā. This is useful. Without these distinctions, the movement would remain too subtle to grasp.

But Abhinava’s tradition now says clearly: naiṣāṃ pṛthaṅnāma kadācit labhyate — their separate names are never ultimately obtained. There are not three independent Śaktis sitting beside one another. There is one svātantrya, one freedom, appearing in three functional modes.

This is very important for the whole vowel-doctrine. If we take the distinctions too literally, the teaching becomes mechanical: first icchā, then jñāna, then kriyā, as if the supreme were an assembly line. But the real movement is one freedom showing different faces according to function. When freedom inclines, it is called icchā. When it illumines, it is called jñāna. When it makes manifest, it is called kriyā. The names differ because our recognition needs clarity; the power does not split.

So the distinctions are pedagogical and contemplative. They are given sphuṭa-pratīti-arthaṃ — for the sake of clear recognition. The root text itself speaks in this way, using expressions like “wishing to unfold,” because the sādhaka needs handles. But the handles are not the final reality. They help us enter the movement; they must not become separate metaphysical objects.

This closes the chunk beautifully. Au gathers the completed vibration of Kriyā-Śakti, and because icchā and jñāna are included there, it has the form of triśūla. But even that triad is finally one freedom. The trident has three prongs, but one shaft. The Śaktis have three names, but one Bhairavic current.